Chapter 444: Offense is the Best Defense

Drinking under the moon, the shadow splits into five.

Tang An drinks with Lu Ya, while Sun Wukong and Yang Jian sit on benches in the pavilion on either side, drinking. Nezha wipes his Fire-Tipped Spear; as the three exchange glances, they are all wary of Lu Ya suddenly striking a blow.

"Are you not afraid that in the future, you will meet the same end as me?" Lu Ya stares straight at Tang An, bringing this human topic out into the open.

Tang An leans against the Soft Couch, admiring the moonlight.

"I am not."

"Truly naive."

"It is not naivety." Tang An strokes her wine cup and looks at Lu Ya, "It is that you were wrong."

"I was wrong?"

"Yes, you were wrong."

"Where was I wrong?"

"You should have killed those people back then, even if it meant paying with your life. To die would have been the end of it, and you would not have ended up like this, grieving for thousands of years, humiliated and used like a chess piece by others."

The killing intent in Tang An's eyes comes from projecting herself into his situation.

"Are you not of the Human Race?" Lu Ya is very surprised; Tang An's desire to kill is even heavier than his own.

"What if I am of the Human Race? Those who wish to kill me have hearts that are surely deviant; how are they any different from the Outer Realm Demon Race?"

"They want to kill me, and I kill them in return; is this not only natural and right?"

Lu Ya pauses, because he has never viewed the problem from the perspective Tang An describes.

He hates; he hates that the sentient beings of the Three Realms he protected turned their blades against him. His Dao Heart is completely destroyed; he would rather become a chess piece just to take revenge, just to destroy the Three Realms.

But if he had killed his enemies to vent his hatred from the very beginning, how could there be this life of neither man nor ghost for thousands of years?

"Hehehehe..."

Lu Ya lets out a bitter laugh, tears shimmering in his eyes, filled with endless sorrow and regret, yet it is too late to repent.

"Yes, I was wrong." Lu Ya closes his eyes, and tears fall.

At the final moment, his obsession vanishes, and he returns to his original appearance.

"I laughed at you for being young and ignorant, not knowing that I was the ignorant fool."

"I also seem to understand why the Saints favored you."

Lu Ya drains the wine in his hand in one gulp, as if looking into the distance. It is as if he sees his former young and frivolous self, suppressed by worldly affairs, having endured countless hardships. Behind him, it gradually becomes empty.

Tears well up in his eyes, and he looks at Sun Wukong and the others. "I truly envy you; I envy them for having a master like you, for having a confidant and close friend like you."

"The Immortal-Slaying Gourd, take it out."

"Master." Yang Jian wants to stop Tang An, because he knows the power of the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.

"It is fine, I believe he has no heart to harm me now." Tang An generously takes out the Immortal-Slaying Gourd and places it on the wine table.

Lu Ya forms seals with his hands, using his final bit of Dharma Power to erase the mark between him and the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.

"I, too, once relied on the hot blood of youth to fight on the battlefield. I was also a hero of the Three Realms, standing on the heights, looking down upon the peaks."

Recalling that glorious time, his face wears a proud and arrogant expression, his eyes filled with endless reminiscence.

"But my life was miserable, having experienced the flames of war. My status and my Heart Realm both plummeted."

"In my heart, only twisted hatred remained; I hated the impermanence of the world, I hated that the Heavenly Dao had no pity, I hated the Saints for toying with me!"

"But what I hated most was myself."

He stands up and drinks a pot of wine heartily, "May I borrow your sword?"

Tang An takes an Immortal Sword from the Wealth Gathering Ring and gives it to him.

Lu Ya dances with the sword in one hand and drinks with the other. Between the dance and the drunkenness, he reveals his Heart Realm without reservation.

Seeing him dance with the sword, Tang An is also filled with many emotions.

"Pfft—"

The wine is finished, the dance is finished, the sword is broken, and the person... is dead.

Lu Ya's mouth is full of blood, yet he laughs heartily, laughing with relief.

"I know that you are also using me."

"But this time, I am willing to be used by you, without sorrow or hatred."

"Thank you for giving me my final dignity; I am taking the Nail-Head Seven-Arrow Book with me. That book is no good; it is useless to you."

"Consider the Immortal-Slaying Gourd a gift of thanks. I hope you do not walk my old path. And I hope you do not end up like me..."

Lu Ya pauses here, looks up at the bright moon, and speaks with stirring emotion. "A hero at the end of his road! Endless sorrow... and pain..."

As the last word falls, his body turns into specks of light in an instant, his soul scattering.

Tang An watches this scene steadily, wiping a tear from her face.

Her gaze changes in an instant, sharp as a blade. "I will not be you, I will never be."

"You and I are both Guardians, but how we guard—you and I are on two completely different paths."

"The best defense is offense." The ruthlessness and depth in her eyes are completely different from who she once was.

Naivety, trust—the lessons of this world had long ago taught her the consequences of naivety and trust.

She had long since lost her youthful frivolity, long since lost that great hero complex of thinking she could save the world.

She only knows that in a life-or-death struggle, one's life hangs by a thread, and one must guard both the front and the back. Her hands had long been stained with the blood of the innocent, so whoever stands in her way must die.

Regardless of whether the other party is innocent, regardless of whether they are god, Buddha, demon, or monster.

Those who kill me must be killed by me.

She, Tang An, is absolutely not the next Lu Ya.

Nezha looks at the ruthlessness in Tang An's eyes, his fists clenched tight, his fingertips turning white.

He had once always wanted to protect her well, wanted her to be that Tang An who only knew how to laugh foolishly every day, eat lots of delicious food, and liked to rob little monsters.

Yet he should have known long ago that she could never go back.

Nezha flashed instantly before Tang An and placed the Fire-Tipped Spear into her hands. "I said I would be the sharpest blade in your hand."

"No matter how you wish to fight, tell me, and I will do it."

Tang An raised her eyes, meeting Nezha's gaze full of determination and sincerity.

She knew that Nezha could do what he said. Not just him; Sun Wukong and Yang Jian were also equally willing to risk their lives for her.

So this was the reason she was willing to protect the Three Realms and protect those she cared about.

She still understood the principle that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.

Tang An handed the Fire-Tipped Spear back to Nezha, "Then you all will have to skip work often from now on. Don't worry, I will have no qualms about troubling you."

Yang Jian and Wukong looked at each other and smiled; they both knew that Tang An did not treat them as outsiders.

"It's just, Master, what you wanted to ask, Lu Ya didn't seem to have time to say."

"He said it."

"Huh?" Yang Jian was surprised; he had not heard when Lu Ya had explained anything.

Tang An looked toward the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, "Everything he wanted to say is inside."

Sun Wukong stood up and called out to Tang An, "Master, does the Immortal-Slaying Flying Blade harbor any hidden dangers?"

"Perhaps, but even if it hides dangers, it would at most injure some of my Primordial Spirit. The Immortal-Slaying Flying Blade is a Great Killing Weapon, and it will be of great use to me."

"You all act as my Dharma Protector, I am going to take a look."

"Understood."

The three responded, and Tang An immediately began Meditation, sending a wisp of her divine sense into the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.

As soon as her divine sense entered the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, Tang An felt the tyrannical power contained within.

She forcibly tamed the treasure with her divine sense, "No matter who your previous master was, and no matter whether you are willing or not, from this day forward you must serve me as your master."

As the final hand seal was cast, Tang An fused her essence blood into the array, ignoring the resistance of the tyrannical power within the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, and completely subdued it for her own use.